


Between the Silver

by posiesp



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Episode: s04e02 Korra Alone, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:54:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28579308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/posiesp/pseuds/posiesp
Summary: Korra bumps into Kuvira in an Earth kingdom village in between Zafou and Republic City. As much as she wanted to continue traveling back towards the city, she still felt incomplete as the Avatar. She finds Kuvira, a familiar face in a new town and they begin to bond with one another.Back in Republic City, Asami continues to write to Korra, hoping to receive a letter back from her. It’s been about two years since Korra has left, and the world is desperately clinging to the idea of the Avatar’s return. However, Asami is just hoping that her friend is safe and healing. However, she can’t shake the feeling that her feelings for Korra are developing into something more than friendship.Finally, one day. Her long-awaited reply from the Avatar slips into her office.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato
Comments: 13
Kudos: 32





	1. Red Envelope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [layC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/layC/gifts).



> I have big hopes for this fic, I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing the beginning of this story. My aim is about 25 chapters at the moment. I don't know if I will have an audience for this, but I will continue to write it. Mostly for my own enjoyment. I couldn't find a fic like this anywhere, so I decided to just write it myself. Thank you for taking the time to stop by!

The factory dulled down as her workers bid each other goodnight and farewell for the evening. Asami Sato’s office, which was conveniently placed above the production lines of the factory, was the only source of illumination against the darkness of the dull concrete walls. The usual lull of machinery in the background stilled itself into the night and Asami was left in her thoughts again. 

The chatter of her employees working, the conversations, the laughter—had all left for the weekend ahead. The walls looked greyer, and the hallways, emptier. 

As she sat against her chair, peering over the skyline of Republic City, she thought of her friend—The Avatar, Korra.

Leaving Korra back at the Southern Water Tribe, felt like losing another part of herself. Her mother was murdered when she was younger, her father was still in prison for involvement in the Equalist movement, and her friend—her best friend—was sick. The world needed their Avatar, yes. But Asami also just missed her friend. Korra was more than just a saviour. She was still human, a person. Her own person. Now more than ever, without the past Avatars to guide her. 

Asami swings herself back to face her desk, turning away from the glaring lights of the dooming Metropolis that was Republic City. The days were always long, but the nights would drag on even longer. Not her friends 

It’s almost too hard to think that it has only been a little over two years since Korra had left the city. Asami has fallen in a little bit of a habit, the only way she has found solace in the lonely months she spent buried under her own hurtful thoughts. So, she pulls out a piece of paper and starts writing:

_Dear Korra,_

_I miss you. It’s not the same in Republic City without you. I know you’re not ready to see anyone. But I wish you would be selfish, for once. Just once. I’m here for you, and I want to be here for you. Let me be there._

_I can’t imagine the kind of pain you’re going through, but I want to. I’m not saying this out of sympathy. I just miss you. Spirits, I miss you. Your laugh, your smile, your eyes. Everything about you. It might be naive of me, but I want to keep hoping you miss me, too. Even if it’s not the same way you might miss Mako._

_Is this what love does to you? This feeling of emptiness has found refuge in my heart since I had to leave you at the Southern Water Tribe. This is awful. I shouldn’t have to feel this way, this angry_ — _not at you. At everything else, really_ — _at the world, my father, this company I’m supposed to be running. Especially Zaheer, for what he did to you. You want to know something pathetic though?_

_I don’t mind it. The pain, I mean. You make it worth it. I’m holding onto the thought you might actually feel this way about me, too._

_That you love me the way I love you. The way you loved Mako, once upon a time._

Asami stares blankly at the page and the words she wrote absentmindedly. _The way she loved him_. Her heart clenches at the thought of Korra yearning for Mako, instead. How stupid of her to think she could compete with the Avatar’s first love, her first boyfriend. Her first everything.

_Come home, Korra. Not as the Avatar, just as you. Let’s start over. Please, let me start over with you._

_Love,_

_Asami_

She reads over the page again. Again, and again, and again. But her fingers tremble as she slips it into a red company envelope. At this point, her actions have become mindless. Her hands now act without accordance of her own, as she works to seal the envelope with wax. 

The clock on her wall chimes signalling midnight, and just like that, another day has started. Another day without Korra. She takes a deep breath, holds it, and lets it go—just like her mother taught her. 

Asami packs up her bag, the paperwork she needed to take home, and the letter. The letter that was safely in her bag, and just like the others she has taken home, it will sit inside a drawer next to her nightstand. 

Just like the other letters, this one will never be sent. Instead, she will go home, and rewrite it again. This time, without confessing her undying love for her best friend. 

It’s funny though, how it only started with one letter. The first one, she would never forget. The way she accidentally wrote _I need you because I love you_. The pen in her hand broke from the pressure she didn’t realize she was using, and the ink spilled over the paper. She doesn’t remember how long she sat still, staring at the words she wrote. The spill grew larger, seeping through the page, marking the rest of the pages in her notebook. It dripped down the page and onto her blueprints, and that’s when Asami snapped out of her trance. She dabbed the page with a paper towel but it was no use. The letter was ruined. 

Her hands weren’t helping with the mess. She was trembling, as she tried to clean off her desk. _Spirits_ , she was fumbling. Asami Sato does _not_ fumble. She was confident, independent, she was sure of herself. She knew what she wanted, what she needed. Some of the best traits she got from her Father, thankfully. The only ones she got from her Father. 

But as her hands moved across the page, at what she wrote, she wasn’t too sure of herself anymore. It was a mistake, it had to be. She was mistaking her feelings of loneliness for something else, she had to be. She’s trying to fill a void, the emptiness that her Father left, the heartache from Mako indecisiveness. Korra was the one person who stayed.

“I’ve never had a girlfriend before,” Korra said to her once. The sentiment warmed her cheeks, and made it difficult to think straight. 

But now, she was gone, too.

Asami seals the letter in an envelope and shoves it deep in the pockets of her bag, easing herself into forgetting about it. 

She didn’t write for weeks after that. 

As the day passed, Asami felt ashamed of herself. She was letting a misunderstanding of her feelings keep her from writing to Korra. They were already so far apart from each other, but refusing to face the mistake she wrote made the distance between them harder to comprehend. The letters were the only thing keeping Korra close to her, even if she hasn’t responded to her yet. 

It had been after a long day at work the next time she finally worked up the courage to draft another letter to Korra. This time though, she made sure she said the right thing, there was no room for error. Not when her friendship with Korra was the only thing worth holding onto right now.


	2. Too Sad to Cry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too Sad to Cry by Sasha Sloan. Definitely my main inspiration for this chapter. This one hit close to home. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“Don’t fight it, Korra,” Katara’s voice was soft. It was muffled beneath the water she was in, she almost missed it. She frowned at the scolding. She knew Katara meant well. 

But after almost two years of working to heal her body, she’s hit a brick wall with her mind every single time. Her patience had run out months ago. Korra doesn’t stifle the sigh that escapes from her, bubbling the water surrounding her. 

Katara was a patient woman, at most. But even her own waterbending master has reached a limit to her powers. She wasn’t the all-powerful Avatar, that was Korra’s title. But laying in this pool, without her connection to the past Avatars—without Raava, she was as good as nothing. Incomplete. Void.

“I’m not.” Korra replies sharply. 

Korra sinked lower into the pool, the water moved past her ears, over her face. She closed her eyes and focused on her heartbeat thumping in her chest. It was almost peaceful.

Katara doesn’t say anything back, she’s learned better than to go back and forth with Korra. They’ve spent every single day together since her return to the Southern Water Tribe; yet, two years later, here she still is. Fucking pathetic. 

An absolute disgrace to the Avatars before her. She’s almost grateful they can’t see her like this. What would Aang say? He left the world in her care, and she destroyed that promise. Now she’s laying in a pool and his wife is doing everything in her control to bring back the pieces of her that have been lost. Violated and destroyed by Zaheer and his poison. 

Korra squirms at the thought, and she can’t shake the feeling of trembling fear that it brings with it. The water in the pool swirls, no longer stilled by Katara’s healing. The mercury seeping into her body, her muscles, and poisoning her brain. Her soul disconnected from her that day, she was sure of it. Now she was just a vessel. 

As human as possible.

The water starts to bubble as her fiery rage itches to take physical form. Heat rose from her hands and she felt the fire beginning to burst—

“Korra,” Katara warns, “That’s enough, my dear girl.”

Katara snapped her back, but the tightness in her chest lingered. She sat up from the pool, “I’m sorry, Katara,” tears pricked her eyes and she looked away. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” there’s a shakiness in her voice that went unnoticed. 

And if it was, Katara didn’t say anything. “Nothing, my dear. You need to remember that.”

Korra’s silence was enough of a response. 

“I think that’s enough for today. I’m sure your mother will appreciate the company.” 

Korra doesn’t fight the suggestion, and she gets up to dress herself. Her jacket has gotten looser on her body. It no longer fit as snuggly as it used to, and she struggled a little more to keep herself warm during the evenings at the Pole. She looked like a child in the clothes she wore. Not hers—the Avatar’s clothes. 

She turns to face Katara one more time, the old woman is bent over the pool, staring at the way the water flowed beneath her. She looks worn out, tired. Katara has been working to find the best treatment she could give her, she knew more than anyone Katara wasn’t a quitter. But that didn’t mean she had all the answers either. 

Katara was lost in thought, and the silence between them was deafening. She willed herself to say something, anything. Instead, all she was left was the burning turmoil inside her, waiting to be let out.

Korra turns to leave, but not before she hears Katara’s whisper in the wind: “It’s just a bit of silver.” 

***

The nights were the worst part of the day. Korra should be sleeping, she should be resting. _Spirits_ , she thought. She’s been resting for almost two years now. She wanted to feel the rush of being alive again, to feel needed. It’s all she knew and all she was raised to be. She’d do anything to feel important to someone again, to be able to make a difference. 

Korra fights the tears threatening to spill, so she twists and turns in her bed, waiting for sleep to overcome her. Waiting and praying to Raava, if she was still there, that she would just take her. 

_NO_. A force in her yelled, forcing the negative thoughts plaguing her mind to squander back into the depths of her brain. An all too familiar warmth crept up her body at the sound of the speaker’s telltale voice. Asami. 

Asami fucking Sato. 

Before Korra could push her away, it’s too late. 

Asami is sitting on the foot of her bed, hair down, her head quirks to the side as if she’s caught in a trance, hypnotizing green eyes settle on her. “Korra,” she says simply. 

If Korra couldn’t make her go, she would just simply ignore her. She couldn’t deal with this tonight. She turns over in bed, facing the other side of her massive room. She struggled to find something in her room to draw her focus too: the picture frames of her with her bending masters on the wall, the closed door to her bedroom, her worn out jacket laying limply on the floor where she tossed it on her way in.

“Korra,” Asami’s voice grew closer as the space on the bed next to her dipped. She struggled even further to keep her eyes away from the vixen sitting next to her. Korra’s gaze settles on her closet. It’s white exterior has been worn down from years of usage. The paint has been shaved down on some parts, exposing the imported wood from the Ba Sing Se. It’s been thoroughly personalized by her own bending skills while she practiced her ice daggers at thirteen. It made for a great target. Her mom didn’t think so, though. 

Maybe if she got up quickly enough and ran towards the closet she could hide in there until Asami left. 

She felt a feathery touch run down her exposed arm, sending shivers throughout her body. She arched her back trying to draw some kind of heat back from Asami.

Okay, so, maybe running and hiding was a bad idea. Even though she shouldn’t, she liked this a little better.

“Korra,” Asami’s whisper prickled at her ear, and she almost felt the hot breath that should've been there. She shivered at the thought. “Please, look at me.” 

Korra finds the strength in her to give her a simple answer, it was all she could muster: “I can’t.” 

As soon as the words escaped her lips, she felt the shift in the wind. 

Asami was gone. 

Korra knows Asami isn’t surprised by that answer. She’s been avoiding her more frequently lately. But it still hurt when she left. The same way she fought looking at her the first time Asami appeared to her. She knows she’s not real, and if she kept this pretense up it was going to make it all the more difficult to face her friend when it was time to go back.

Her need to find solace in the comfort of being needed brought her to her doom. She’s grown attached to a figment of her imagination. She wasn’t careful, and now she was suffering the consequences. It was supposed to help her heal.

That’s what Katara said. 

The first few weeks being trapped at the Southern Water Tribe plagued her with visions of Zaheer poisoning her. It replayed in her mind during the hours she spent awake, sitting in a wheelchair. It haunted her dreams at night when she tried to escape for just a few hours; every nightmare was worse than the next. 

Katara and her parents had to intervene one evening when four Whie Lotus guards were flown off the balcony in her room. They were thankfully saved from any broken bones when the snow cushioned their fall. She was getting kidnapped in her dream, caught in a never-ending chase. Zaheer and his followers were hot on her trail. 

The guards must have heard her screams echoing down the hall where they stood watch, guarding her. Because she obviously needed the fucking protection, because she was useless and couldn’t defend herself. 

Katara and her mother stayed with her that night, even with Korra’s protests that she was fine. 

They sat in silence that night, her mother slept with her for the first time since she was a child. Even the Avatar needed her mother, sometimes. Korra was still wide awake, so Katara took the opportunity then to speak with her. 

“Find something good in your life you can hold onto during moments of extreme pain,” she said to her in the dark. The full moon illuminated her room, enough so she could see Katara’s eyes prickle with tears. “Find a familiar face when you are fighting your demons, only then you will understand that you are not alone. You are never alone.”

Korra snuggles closer to her mother that night. 

That was the first night she dreamt of Asami.


	3. Peace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this chapter's delay. Life got complicated.

Asami parks her car in front of Jin’s Noodle House. Today was Bolin’s 19th birthday, and the boys had invited her out for dinner to celebrate at their spot. It was a Friday night, so the restaurant boomed with voices and music from the people inside, all tucked away into their personal bubbles together. Asami should be happy, she should. It was a good day. 

It still didn’t change the fact it felt incomplete, though. 

“Miss Sato,” the host greeted her with a smile, and an arm extending towards the VIP booths. The best. Always the best for her. She detested this bit of her life just a little. Especially now with her father out of the picture. Asami was the brand new face of the company, and it came with the most awful responsibilities. Everyone was watching her, and so she needed to be aware of her actions, her words at every moment. Because someone out there will always have an opinion of her, whether good or bad. And because of who her Father was—is—their opinions of her were also rather low. “We’ve made all the preparations for you and your guests, so please make yourself comfortable.”

“Thank you, Mr. Lee,” she replies, taking a seat further out in the booth. She hated inconveniencing her friends in case she needed to get up to take care of work. 

He bows his head in respect before leaving her at the table.

“Asami!” Bolin charges to her and brings her up to her feet, wrapping her in a warm, familiar hug. He’d gotten taller, Asami thinks. A small figure steps out from behind him, all smiles and sparkling eyes. Opal laughs at Bolin’s excitement, but she lets her boyfriend be. Opal and Bolin were absolutely perfect for each other. 

Opal grounded him, and he freed her. They balanced each other in a way that Asami was almost envious of. She never had it that good with Mako, and clearly, neither did Korra. 

“It is so good to see you, Bo,” and she means it. It had been too long since she'd seen him. She wraps Opal in a hug of her own. “You look amazing in your uniform, by the way.” The new Airbenders had grown in numbers, and more and more came forward. The first group of Airbenders was given the responsibility of making sure the Earth Kingdom towns and villages survived the transition of power within their Kingdom. 

Opal smiles kindly at her, “thank you,” she says.

Opal, Kai, and Jinora were decked in their new uniforms, designed personally by Tenzin and herself. The adaptable red and yellow winged-suit was mostly his idea, she just helped engineer it to reality. 

“Come, sit, I’m dying to know what you have been up to since we last saw each other.” 

“Mako’s going to be a little late,” Bolin slides in first, followed swiftly by Opal. She glides so carefully into the seat, she barely touches it. 

“Big detective case?”

“You know how it is with him now, practically married to his job. Lin’s making him work extra hours to catch any other Red Lotus members around the city.”

The information makes Asami’s breath stop short. “Wait, they’re back? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” She felt her whole body tense at the thought of them still on the hunt for Korra. 

“He just told me today, he’s been working on it for months now.”

Opal holds Bolin’s hand as if sensing her discomfort. Her eyes darting back and forth between her boyfriend and Asami. “I’m sure Asami isn’t interested in hearing about all this police stuff.”

She wasn’t, usually, but if it had anything to do with Korra, then it was a different story. She will not let anything happen to her, ever again. What would happen if they found her? Would they try and finish Zaheer’s mission in killing her? Korra was helpless right now, and if they were to strike again, this time, they might even be successful. 

Asami’s chest tightened at the thought of Korra’s limp body lying helpless on the floor. Visions of death clouded her mind and her judgment. She started picturing the different ways they might be able to infiltrate the Southern Water Tribe—through a spy? An assassin? The possibilities were endless, yet they all pointed towards one outcome: Korra’s death. 

The air in the room weighed down on her. The faint sounds of Bolin trying to change the subject drifted past her. 

She shots up from her seat, “ I need some air.” 

Asami leaves Bolin’s calls and makes her way outside, towards the balcony. 

It was private enough, and Bolin knew better than to follow her out here. A few moments of silence was all she needed to still the marathon her heart was running. It made it extremely difficult to hold onto to anything, really. Asami balances herself on the railing, inhaling and exhaling. 

The door behind her creaks open. She’s about to tell Bolin off, when instead, a softer voice asks her, “mind if I join you?” 

She turns and watches Opal tilt her head in question, waiting for a response. Asami wasn’t expecting her. It would’ve been easier to tell Bolin to screw off, but she didn’t want to frighten her, so she gives her a simple nod.

“It’s not forever, you know?” Asami’s eyes widened at the comment. “You know, Korra—”

“I know what you mean.” Her tone was too sharp, too emotional. “I’m sorry, Opal. I didn’t mean it like that.” 

Opal doesn’t retreat then. Instead, she steps further outside the balcony and leans against the railing next to Asami.

Opal was far shorter than her, but at that moment, Asami felt like the smaller one between the two of them. She reaches out a hand, carefully, almost as if she expects Asami to blow up again. After a moment, Asami is the one that closes the space between them and pulls her into a hug. Asami thinks it may be too forward, Opal wasn’t expecting a hug so she was stiff at first. 

She eventually softens into her friend. “You know,” she began, pulling away but still within an arm’s reach, “I grew up as a non-bender in the most famous Earthbending family—Spirits, my grandmother invented a new category of Earthbending. So, imagine when they had me and I couldn’t even lift a pebble. My Dad and Bataar Jr. aren’t Earthbenders, mind you. But I think my mom wanted me to be, expected it even. I think she has too many boys and just wanted a girl to bond with. Seeing as she couldn’t have that relationship with Aunt Lin, and my grandmother was barely in the picture. It made it hard, yeah. Then came Kuvira, and it’s like she finally found her prodigy. The perfect daughter. You must know what that feels like, to have those expectations over you.

“But then you meet someone who doesn’t care about any of that. Instead is looking at you as, well, you. When I’m with Bolin, I feel like I’m capable of anything. He was my friend first, too. But I think that’s what makes our relationship better than most, because he didn’t hold any expectations over me.”

Asami doesn’t say anything, Opal’s gaze was farther away now. 

“I think—I think I get it.”

“Good. I didn’t peg you for a slow learner,” she bumps her shoulder to her in an attempt to lighten the mood. “We should get back before the Bolin comes looking for us.”

For the first time since she’s realized her feelings for Korra, she feels extremely at ease. Almost peaceful. 

Almost.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the first part! I'd love it if you could leave some feedback, or suggestions, and/or theories for where this might be headed! ;)


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